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[Lincs Robert]

This has happened to me twice with the model of German airline efficiency - both from Heathrow via Frankfurt. Once to Poland the other to Azerbaijan for work 

[Viral_Jim]

Looks like the most you are likely to get back is £1200

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/the-airline-has-lost-or-damaged-my-bag-what-can-i-do

And expect a fight. They'll probably say you should have travel insurance to cover it.

 I regularly carry £5K+ worth of camera gear as hand luggage and would never check it in, especially on a non direct flight. If an airline tried to make me put it in the hold, either at check-in or at the door of the plane then I tell them I will decline to board. This works quite well at the door of the plane, particularly if you already have hold baggage checked in. They have to off load it which almost always causes departure delays.

That's a great ploy! Although sadly I rarely travel with checked baggage which makes them more likely to call your bluff I suppose.

I was aware of the limit, and I do technically have insurance, although I will claim from the airline as a weapon of first resort and probably use insurer to cover the difference. I also intend to bill them for the day of my time that they wasted by lying to me (3 times) about the expected arrival time of my case. In fact, the €1200 will probably cover the market value of the watch. Although obviously will not replace it.

As an aside, the first thing the customer service bod asked me was whether I had insurance and that he would advise me to claim on it if so. I (more calmly than I felt) explained that insurance was not relevant, I expected the airline to pay. This sort of thing really hacks me off and doesn't occur in any other sphere as far as I can tell. I mean, imagine if someone rear-ended you and then said "oh don't worry, you're fully comp, just claim on your own insurance"

[LC0112G]

Looks like the most you are likely to get back is £1200

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/the-airline-has-lost-or-damaged-my-bag-what-can-i-do

And expect a fight. They'll probably say you should have travel insurance to cover it.

 I regularly carry £5K+ worth of camera gear as hand luggage and would never check it in, especially on a non direct flight. If an airline tried to make me put it in the hold, either at check-in or at the door of the plane then I tell them I will decline to board. This works quite well at the door of the plane, particularly if you already have hold baggage checked in. They have to off load it which almost always causes departure delays.

That's a great ploy! Although sadly I rarely travel with checked baggage which makes them more likely to call your bluff I suppose.

I was aware of the limit, and I do technically have insurance, although I will claim from the airline as a weapon of first resort and probably use insurer to cover the difference. I also intend to bill them for the day of my time that they wasted by lying to me (3 times) about the expected arrival time of my case. In fact, the €1200 will probably cover the market value of the watch. Although obviously will not replace it.

As an aside, the first thing the customer service bod asked me was whether I had insurance and that he would advise me to claim on it if so. I (more calmly than I felt) explained that insurance was not relevant, I expected the airline to pay. This sort of thing really hacks me off and doesn't occur in any other sphere as far as I can tell. I mean, imagine if someone rear-ended you and then said "oh don't worry, you're fully comp, just claim on your own insurance"

If I'm travelling hand luggage only, I always have a photographers waistcoat and a jacket with lots of pockets with me,  All my camera gear will fit in the 'toggers jacket and/or the coat. It's happened once - Ryanair at Riga - So I unloaded my bag, put all the camera gear in the coat/waistcoat and handed them a now almost empty bag containing just some stale cacks and socks. For some reason they changed their mind and let me take the bag on board ;-)

The analogy with car insurance isn't quite right. They will basically say you should claim off your own insurance, and then your insurance claims their costs off the airline. They aren't setup to deal directly with the public.

[Viral_Jim]

The analogy with car insurance isn't quite right. They will basically say you should claim off your own insurance, and then your insurance claims their costs off the airline. They aren't setup to deal directly with the public.

I can understand that. But then that just means the insurance company takes a nice slice (my excess) out of the money that the airline owes for failing to take adequate care of my belongings. That's if they pay.

Last time I had to claim I had threaten to take the insurer to court. I was leaving the USA for London when the plane was diverted to another US airport (technical fault)and I had a near 48hr layover. In order to try to avoid my claim, my insurer said that because I had been diverted within the US, I was no longer on an international flight and they wouldn't cover my layover. Needless to say they declined to put their view before a judge. 

The way I see it, I can take Lufthansa to the small claims court, just as easily as my insurer.

[zirk]

Last time I fly Lufthansa I missed a connection at Frankfurt which wasn't really there fault, they put me in a 5 Star Hilton, paid my Taxi's to and from, bought me Dinner at the Hotel, told me to use the Bar, as well as the mini Bar in my Room, and gave me 20 Euros just in case, as they couldn't give me my luggage as it was in the system for the next flight and I didn't have and wasn't expecting to have any EU money. 

So all in all they were good to me, all this of course was before they lost my luggage on the next leg to Hong Kong.

[Doctor Gollum]

Last time I fly Lufthansa I missed a connection at Frankfurt which wasn't really there fault, they put me in a 5 Star Hilton, paid my Taxi's to and from, bought me Dinner at the Hotel, told me to use the Bar, as well as the mini Bar in my Room, and gave me 20 Euros just in case, as they couldn't give me my luggage as it was in the system for the next flight and I didn't have and wasn't expecting to have any EU money. 

So all in all they were good to me, all this of course was before they lost my luggage on the next leg to Hong Kong.

Probably because they offloaded it in HK after it got there without you... but to admit that would be to admitting that your luggage flew without you. Which, since Lockerbie, is a cardinal sin... if you don't check in at the gate, your bags are meant to be off loaded. No exceptions. This is one of the biggest causes of delays as the decision to offload is always last minute.

[Kevin Wood]

They aren't setup to deal directly with the public.

Well, they seem to be "set up" to deal with the public as far as taking their money in exchange for tickets is concerned, and also herding them on and off tin cans. Just not when it comes to dealing with the liabilities arising from doing so.